Read a chapter

1
The colored file

Once, not so long ago and in a land not very far from where we live today, there lived a little boy. Like the other boys and girls of his age, he liked to play games and chase butterflies. But unlike many of them, he wanted to go to school.

Now this was strange because schools in those days were not really joyful places of learning. Young boys and girls went to school every morning with books on their backs and fear in their hearts. They sat in narrow benches in crowded classrooms and learned things that made no sense to them.

Parents sent them to learn. Teachers told them to learn. People asked them how much they learned. Sadly, nobody taught them how to learn. Nobody showed them why it was important to learn what they were learning. Nobody told them that they had greatness in them.

They returned home in the evening with books on their backs, fear in their hearts and tear in their eyes.

So why did the little boy want to go to school?

"Go to school and get good grades," said his father, who wanted the very best for his son. "Then find a job and make a living."

"When you were born, I saw in your eyes a lovely spark," said his mother, looking deep into his eyes. "I see the same spark in your eyes today. Only it is much brighter now. Let it glow, son."

She looked even deeper into his eyes. And then she blessed him. "May you shine with the brightness of a thousand stars!"

She knew, as mothers always do, that her little boy was no ordinary boy. He was born to be great. He would not only win bread for his family but bring glory to this world.

"You'll surely be a rock star," said some of his friends and neighbors. They saw that he had a special fascination for rocks. He even had a unique collection of them. He proudly displayed them in one corner of his room and invited everyone he met to come and have a look. To his utter delight, some of them seemed to like it.

There were white rocks, black rocks, speckled rocks, jagged rocks, sparkling rocks, and rocks with strange images on them. They were all pretty rocks. Often he marveled at the beauty and variety of his own collection and wondered. He somehow liked the idea of being a rock star.

Then one day he met some travelers at the river, where he was looking for rocks. They were pretty impressed by the rare passion of this little boy.
"Perhaps you'd want to be a geologist when you grow up," said one of the travelers to him.

A geologist?

He learned from them that a geologist was someone who studied about rocks among other things. It was a fascinating subject to study.

I think I'd like to be a geologist, he decided. Yes, a geologist. That's what I want to be.
And that meant going to school.

"I'm smart and I can learn anything," he said thoughtfully, and he felt proud of himself. If going to school meant he was going to be a geologist some day, then that was what he was going to do.

And so the little boy went to school.

And very soon he forgot about being a geologist. There were books to read, homework to do, notes to write, tests to take.... There was no time for rocks anymore.

"Here's your progress report," said his teacher one day handing him a colored file. The tone of her voice didn’t sound very appealing, and this made him uneasy.

He knew what the file contained – the papers he had written, grades he had earned, whether he had passed or failed…. Had he failed? His heart sank at the thought, and his face grew pale instantly. He knew what it meant to fail. It was to qualify for unkindness and shame at school. It was to bring disgrace to family at home.

He took the file in his hands and looked pleadingly into his teacher's eyes.

Her eyes flared.

Then he heard a voice scream:

"You are doomed!"